Catching Kate (Scenic Route to Paradise)

by Andrea Aarons

  “No... no! What I mean is I can call her and tell her to wait in Cape Town... How long does it take to sail from here?” asked Kate sitting down abruptly.

  “I think maybe five or six days but they don’t have engine power right now - according to Merry. Sailing... Well, I suppose it would depend on the current and wind, wouldn’t you think. But no, I didn’t think to get her number,” responded Elsie. “Give me yours. Who knows but she might call me and I can tell her what’s going on. And I’ll be praying of course.”

  The exchanged numbers and Kate took off to Lara’s apartment. She pulled into the wrong lane because of her preoccupied excitement but also because, South Africa like the British, use the left lane rather than the right. Honking and cursing at her, the oncoming car didn’t squelched Kate’s determination or hope or joy in linking up with Merry.

  She couldn’t wait to hug her... to congratulate her. Merry married? Kate shook her head and as she made a left turn onto Lara’s busy street she pulled into the wrong lane again. She parked unscathed and unhindered by the difficulties before her.

  “Lara, Lara,” shouting before she got through the door, Lara came to her assistance thinking she was being chased by a thief. Lara looked past her and down the hallway before closing and locking the front door again.

  In her lilting South African accent, Lara exclaimed, “What in the world, my girl?”

  Kate laughed and hugged her as she kicked off her shoes from behind. She began her little dance as she told her the news.

  “Oh my! This is good news! We’re going to have to celebrate. I’ll treat you to dinner,” Lara told her.

  “Not so fast. I have to find a ride and then get over to Cape Town as soon as possible. I’ll call the airport,” Kate told her.

  Twenty minutes later, Kate had booked a very expensive flight direct from Durban to Cape Town. There was another slightly cheaper flight that went through Johannesburg in the morning but she wouldn’t get to Cape Town until Monday evening. Kate didn’t want to chance it. Almost all her Rand would be spent on this one slim chance.

  “Oh Lara, pray with me. I booked the flight but what if they’re gone? I have no confidence... no assurance that they will still be there. Pray with me!” Kate pleaded with Lara. Lara nodded in agreement. Prayer was easy for her. Everyone in South Africa prayed about everything, it seemed. She had seen multitudes of miracles and God had answered important prayers for her. When her prayer wasn’t answered as she thought it would be or there seemed to be no answer, Lara chalked it up as God’s sovereignty. He was God and He loved answering prayer but there were times when His will could not be altered by the whim and prayer of one of His children.

  They prayed and Kate hurriedly packed. There was still three hours before her flight left but she wanted no typical South African delays.

  Lara agreed.

  There was a tearful good-bye at the curb and then Kate turned to go inside while Lara pulled away in her small white car.

  At the ticket counter, there was the mix up. She assumed there would be but she wasn’t going to pass a bribe. In South Africa, bribes were seldom successful, she recalled. So, Kate called for the manager instead and voilà! There was her reservation... for tomorrow morning via Johannesburg! There was nothing they could do. There had been a mix up. Kate paid in cash for the cheaper ticket and she called Lara back. They went to dinner.

  Farewells were said again the next morning early as Lara needed to get to work. Kate had some time to spare and she tried setting up a ride from the Cape Town Airport to the harbor where she knew her sister would be docked. She couldn’t get anyone to commit and then no one returned her calls.

  Pulling out her journal Kate wrote about the recent turn of events but her final scribble said-

  Lord? What are you doing? I don’t even have a ride to the docks tonight... I chose to trust You.

  In the bathroom between flights at the Johannesburg Airport, Kate looking in the mirror couldn’t help but compare herself to Merry.

  Merry looks great! And happy! Look at me! Kate’s normal alabaster skin looked pale. Her eyes were dark and her lips chapped; her hair, limp. Kate had almost the same color of hair as Merry but instead wavy ash-brown, Kate’s was a straight ash-blond. Merry’s face was oval and her eyes round but Kate’s face was angular, squarish with dimples in each cheek and her eyes were oval. The sisters wore the same size in clothing although Kate was an inch taller than Merry and where Merry was round, Kate was angular. Her posture was perfect. Her wrist and ankles were becomingly small.

  Kate was athletic and cerebral, pushing her limits - all of them to the fullest. Merry didn’t like to push, reasoning that the sisters ended up at the same place only, Merry arrived a little later than Kate... but so what! Merry had concluded.

  Kate mused about Merry’s conclusion as she examined her eyebrows. They need to be plucked. This time, Kate hoped that Merry and she would be arriving together and at the same place - Cape Town.

  As Kate boarded the plane, she remembered she still needed a ride from the airport to downtown where the ships and boats docked in the Cape Town Harbour. It would be after 10pm and very dangerous for a woman alone. There was a huge sprawling upscale shopping mall right at the port’s edge but surely it would be closed.

  Calling a couple of her friends, no one answered. She decided they imagined she was calling about a job - again. She sent Stacy Botha a text, telling him she needed a ride from the airport. A moment later, he responded and she text him her arrival time.

  Chapter 5 Cape Town Confusion

  One port after another had come and gone, but Zeff couldn’t bring himself to call his father. He wanted to call his mother, Rosa but she would tell “Papa” all about him, so he refrained. Father and son had argued and Zeff continued to be angry about his father’s incessant bullying and threats.

  Zeff was the youngest child. He had two sisters - married and three older brothers. The eldest brother was married, also. Zeff was an uncle to three strapping boys and a baby niece. The problem was that his father compared him to his brothers and Zeff came up woefully short in the eyes of his father. His brothers were ambitious, superficial and smart but Zeff was only smart.

  Over a month had passed since Zeff had joined the crew. As of late, he sensed this trip was orchestrated just for him.

  There had been two paths: Death - for surely he would have died that night in Puerto Vallarta, or life... Only two ways; certainly there was no in between. Even if he had not been accosted, Zeff realized in hindsight that he could not continue the road he had been traveling. It was a meandering journey of indecision and it was directionless, even dangerous.

  Humans and especially this human, are not meant to traverse life like that, he concluded.

  So here he was sailing at a snail’s pace past J’s Bay on his way to Cape Town. Zeff had always wanted to surf Jeffrey’s Bay as it was famous for surfing and infamous for mischief and Merry had her heart set on surfing there. But the ocean was flat. There was no wave and the wind was wrong. Mac talked her out of even trying and she readily agreed.

  They had made honest time traveling from Mexico to the east coast of Africa spending hours in ports rather than days. Zeff had overheard Mac and Tino discussing the danger of spending too much time in foreign ports. The recent American downfall had affected the world in many ways. Mac, who had traveled extensively, said he had never seen crime, corruption and costs at the present level. The instability was recognizable and extreme.

  Boat problems started as they drew near the huge island nation of Madagascar, east of the southern African continent. First, they were becalmed. This slowed them significantly. Zeff had gotten so bored, not to mention hot, that he climbed the mast and while it swung lazily to and fro. From that height, he planned a calculated dive. Unfortunately, Zeff had forgotten to consider the fling effect that the mast has as it stops and then starts its journey back to the other side of the boat as the wave travels underneath the hull. Zeff was flung from
the boat to the amusement of everyone but Mac who thought the Mexican would break his neck when he hit the water. Instead, Zeff traveling on and on through the air which was a mild shock to him, kept his diving form. He pierced the water like a knife and then traveled further down than a man should go without air tanks. Enjoying the cool, dark depths until he realized he was far from the surface and also, out of breathe, Zeff raced for the surface light.

  When surfing, Zeff had learned a trick from the old school. If you are out of breath and thinking you are going to suck in water, let just a tiny bit in and swallow the water. It will keep you busy until you break through to air and it will let your body know not to inhale - not yet!

  As he strove upward, the cold water warming as he neared the surface, Zeff did the sip trick. He broke through with a burst and a belch and then he threw up. Looking back, he saw his shipmates clinging to the port rail. Zeff waved and called in Spanish, “Esta muy bien!” And added impishly in English, “Try it!”

  But nobody did.

  That same evening, Mac decided to use the little fuel they had. Zeff stood with them as he told Tino and Junior. “These waters are known for pirates. We’ve got some artillery but I sense we need to get moving again.” He pointed to the chart on the desk in the navigation room. “If we pressed tonight, we’ll be abreast of Madagascar tomorrow but I don’t want to stop until Durban. I’m telling you boys, these waters north of here and then south of Maputo are infested.”

  Mac had been instructing the men on sailing and maneuvering the sloop just in case something happened to him. Zeff was included in these lessons and he sometimes wondered if Mac knew more than he said about Zeff’s ability to understand and even speak English.

  Sometimes Mac spoke to Zeff in Portuguese and once in French but since Zeff didn’t respond, Mac usually reverted to English or called Merry.

  They used the motor all night and part of the following morning until the engine quit. The wind had picked up and Mac made use of it but the engine trouble worried them all.

  The Serendipity spent four days in Durban. Merry had been sixteen the last time she was in the city. For Zeff it was a fun distraction to go about with her and Junior as her bodyguard. Junior had street smarts where Zeff just looked like someone no nefarious types would want to tangle with and he looked South African Colored with his brown skin, tawny sun bleached hair and green eyes.

  On Saturday, Junior watched Zeff and Merry surf. There wasn’t a perfect wave but the wind was offshore and the wave was acceptable and fast. Merry was good. They rented boards from a local shop and the owners remembered Merry, her siblings and her father, Vance Merriweather. Her father had traded some boards and also had two shaped in the shop. Vance had been a superb surfer.

  Merry was surprised when Zeff picked out his own board for surfing. She paid for the rental but she had planned to put him on a beginner's floater but he wouldn’t have it. She shrugged. He swam like a fish so maybe he could surf as well, she decided.

  In the meanwhile, Mac and Tino were scurrying about for engine parts. No doubt there were plenty of parts to be had for the older boat but finding them was another story. Frustrated, Mac called ahead to Cape Town securing what he needed for five days hence. They didn’t leave Saturday. Merry wanted to surf and they couldn’t leave Sunday, Merry was visiting elderly missionaries, the Dawsons in center city. Mac made the best of it and they left with the outgoing tide early Monday morning.

  “So you surf too? You are full of it... I mean you're full of surprises aren’t you?” Mac taunted Zeff at dinner Sunday night. He smiled and nodded at Mac not even feigning to misunderstand him. Eventually, they would know and so what? He had had his amusement and they had had their fun with him too... but he wouldn’t tell them everything, not yet.

  Six days out of Durban and the sloop rounded the cape, just hours from the Cape Town jetty. The weather was chillier than theDurban mid-winter which had been warm. To Junior’s delight, there were penguins in the water.

  Paarden Island was all but shut down on Saturday afternoon. They would need to wait until Monday morning to get the engine parts. Mac and Merry went ashore for dinner Saturday night and had the crew hold tight until Sunday afternoon when they would return.

  On Sunday morning they showed up in the Guguletu informal settlement where Merry’s parents spent ten short years establishing a thriving indigenous work. The backbone of the congregation remembered Merry of course as she had left fewer than 4 years previous when she was 18.

  Mac was paranoid of her friends and of the area in general and for good reason. Gugs had a horrible reputation for thievery, rape and murder. Merry and Mac were the only white people that morning within several kilometers. Merry seemed to ignore the obvious and went about hugging and laughing and kissing young and old alike, but especially the children.

  Monday morning arrived blustery and wet. Junior and Zeff were left in charge of the boat while Merry took Mac and Tino to Paarden Island. She knew Cape Town well and besides having the marina shops, many other supply houses and businesses were located there.

  Merry wasn’t surprised when they arrived at their destination to discover that the parts were ordered and should be in sometime that afternoon or possibly tomorrow.

  Tino was angry. Santa Fe was known as the land of mañana... tomorrow but this was outrageous! Mac shrugged and said, “Here’s my number. Call me when the parts do arrive. In the meanwhile, where else should I go to find these parts?” His inscrutable smile warned the counter clerk that Mac was serious. The clerk gave directions to the two closest competitors and the three went out to the rental car.

  Mac never did hear from the original marina supply but they did find the necessary parts and Tino with Mac’s help had the motor running again before nightfall.

  Merry, Junior and Zeff raced south to the Kommetje in hopes of catching some sunset surfers but no one was out. They walked the beach for a few kilometers, surprising some sea lions lying on the rocks as the shoreline came around to the Dunes surf spot. It was a cold but beautiful sunset as they started back.

  At the Kommetje parking lot which was now completely empty, Merry found a puppy. A female Boerboel curled up in the gravel in front of their vehicle.

  Junior said, “Merry, I think she was waiting for us! She’s huge!” The dog was large and seemed overjoyed when she awoke to find them standing over her.

  “You’re right. Poor thing she is exhausted,” Merry replied. The pup had no collar and so it was decided by Merry to take her with them. Junior and the dog climbed into the backseat.

  Zeff was glad to be silent in this decision. He loved dogs but he had many experiences with girlfriends and his sisters clinging to stray dogs as if they had found a long, lost cousin. He was sure Mac wouldn’t like the idea of a dog on board.

  Mac didn’t like the idea.

  It was well after sunset when they came up the makeshift gangway with the enormous puppy in tow. Merry had stopped at the mall and picked up several necessities for the beast, including the largest bag of dog food the shop carried. Zeff had the bag slung over his shoulder. Merry carried a bag of toys, bones and doggie diapers while Junior had the dog on her new leash.

  Tino and Mac had completed the engine repair long before and ordered pizza delivered to the dock. Merry ran down the aft companionway to bring Mac up to see his “surprise.” Tino came up with them and they found Junior strutting across the deck with the new mascot. Zeff leaned against the starboard rail to watch the proceedings.

  Merry was all smiles. “Congratulations!” she told Mac. “You’ve been adopted! This is Coco.”

  Mac was tired. “Thank you,” he said to Merry while watching the puppy as she squatted and tinkled on the deck. “I must inform my parents upon my return home that not only did I bring my bride but also, my new mother. Thank you, very much.”

  “Mac! You don’t like her? She’s a perfect ship’s mascot and she’ll be all the rage on D’Almata. Everyone will envy you as you’re the onl
y one with an exotic South African Boerboel!” Merry exclaimed.

  “Oh, of course! Why didn’t I think of that! Let’s go round up a dozen more. We can start a dog breeding kennel when we arrive... That will keep you busy and out of trouble,” he snapped. Mac was tired. He turned to go down the companionway and said over his shoulder, “We’re leaving with the outgoing tide, so make sure you find someone else to give her to before then.”

  Junior and Merry looked at each other. Tino shrugged and followed Mac back to the navigation room.

  “What do we do?” asked Junior sincerely baffled. “Mac doesn’t like her.”

  Merry was hurt and perplexed. She hadn’t expected Mac to be so opposed to the dog and also, to her. “Well, Mac is the captain and so we must find another someone for her,” Merry responded. She turned to Zeff, saying in Spanglish, “Zeff, would like a bunkmate? She will keep your feet warm in this nasty chill. You can have Coco at no cost... for free but when you get tired of her - please, give her back to us! Okay?”

  Zeff shook his head in the negative but he replied in Spanish that he would take the dog. As an afterthought, he knew that Mac would be angry but he hadn’t seen the newlyweds get into a decent argument yet... Maybe this would do it.

  Looking through the window, Kate could see nothing… only blackness. Once the plane had left the vicinity of Johannesburg there had been no lights to be seen below. She had forgotten how dark Africa really was - even South Africa.

  The preacher from the service that morning had really hit home with her. He had talked about how many South Africans went to church - Christian church because it was part of their culture. Some of these cultural Christians followed through with moral living even when church service concluded as they went back to their homes and jobs and school. The preacher said others would say that these moral, cultural Christians were “good” people.

  Kate thought about her life in the USA. People, many people including friends, family and customers viewed her just like that... She was a good person. Kate Merriweather was honest and dedicated. She was punctual; an attribute she decided was very much on the decline among American youth. She even set a tenth of her income aside for when she did attend church and then she gave it.